New tank cycling week 6

[uscstaylor]

Hey Guys,
I am new here and I have a question. My 55 gallon tank started to cycle with piece of shrimp in it and the levels went sky high for about a week. I took the shrimp out because I read that once your cycle is started and levels reach high readings you can take out the shrimp. Anyway here's my tank setup and question I have is below that. Any help or input is much appreciated.

55 gallon tank
50 lbs of dry rock (currently getting brown and green algae on them)
Aqueon proflex 2 sump with one side having protein skimmer and return pump and middle a refugium with tennis ball size of cheato and 3 inches of live sand.
1- wave maker 850 GPS in back of tank moving water nicely.
Uv sterilizer on the return pump working perfect.
3 inches of crushed coral on bottom of tank.

My question is this, Now that I removed the shrimp should I just wait until levels drop to 0 and then do water change and add fish. The only thing I have in it right now are 5 good size turbo snails which are doing good. I don't want to kill any fish in this process. Any info you can give me will help a lot. Thanks a lot folks!

 

[uscstaylor]

Forgot temp of water is 77.6 and water salinity is 1.023. All other readings are still fairly high. I use RODI water which is at 5 reading. Not at 0 yet working on it. Thanks

 

[Planedoc]

I would add some live rock to get the basic bacteria your system needs. If your worried about pests get some small rubble and add to your refugium. Have your numbers been dropping?

Tapatalk on Galaxy S3

 

[uscstaylor]

Yes they have been kinda of dropping slowly. I'll post my levels tomorrow morning.

 

[Budman's Corals]

Yes they have been kinda of dropping slowly. I'll post my levels tomorrow morning.

all you need is 1 piece of live rock,as soon as you put that in I would change 30% of your water..Keep us updated on your param...

 

[uscstaylor]

Ok thanks I will. I didn't get chance to post them this morning I will tonight when I get home from work. I am getting quite bit of green algae now on my rocks and tank walls.

 

[Duffam3434]

Hope to see some pics as your progress through your setup!!

 

[uscstaylor]

I'll post pics and levels tonight so you guys can see my progress. I'm getting aqua cultured live rock from pectoral this Thursday and I'm going to clean tank up and post pics again so you see the before and after pics of the tank. This way you can get a real good idea where I stand with this tank. I really appreciate all of the feed back you guys leave me it's, very helpful for sure.....

 

[uscstaylor]

I meant Petco sorry for the type o.

 

[uscstaylor]

Ok here's my water readings as of 08/04/13 @ 2100 pm.
Temp 77.7, PH 8.0, ammo 0 ppm, NO2 .20ppm, NO3 40ppm. Sal. 1.023

When I get my pics in the morning I'll try to post them so you can have a good look to see what I'm dealing with.

 

[glb]

Ok here's my water readings as of 08/04/13 @ 2100 pm.
Temp 77.7, PH 8.0, ammo 0 ppm, NO2 .20ppm, NO3 40ppm. Sal. 1.023

When I get my pics in the morning I'll try to post them so you can have a good look to see what I'm dealing with.

Looks like you've got a good cycle going. Good luck!

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

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[uscstaylor]

Hey Guys,
Heres the pics like promised......








This thursday I'm going to do a really good tank cleaning of the glass and then do a 50% water change, then Im buyin the live rock at Petco and adding 5 more lbs of it to the main tank and the refugium, then Im going to give it another week and add a small damsel. Do you guys think that is a good idea. I really want to have a fish in the tank, but I dont want to kill it. what do ya think...

 

[Palting]

Looking good! :thumb: Good idea to add more rock in there.

If you don't mind a few opinions/suggestions:

Nitrite. Anything over 0.1ppm can be still be harmful to invertebrates, and over 0.3ppm is harmful to fish. I'd wait until it is zero before adding anything. Patience is golden in this hobby of ours.

Salinity. Good to keep the salinity at 1.023, as that's where most LFS will keep theirs at, making it easier to acclimate fish. If/when you want to add coral, better to go 1.026, the average salinity of seawater. Brings the critical 3 for coral - alk,calcium, mag - up to par as well when you do.

Skimmer placement. If I understood your post correctly, you have the skimmer in the same section as your return pump in the Proflex sump. Skimmers are very sensitive to water levels, and the return section fluctuates the most with evaporation. Consider an ATO to keep that water level more constant and thereby have a more efficient and more consistent skim production from the skimmer.

Here is a question, and the answers are controversial: Now that your ammonia is zero and your shrimp is gone, what will your ammonia eating bacteria eat while you wait for the nitrite/nitrate to go down? IMO and IME, I pretend to feed one or two small fish daily with a pinch of food. That way, when your nitrites are 0 and you add your first fish, the bacterial population across the spectrum will already be up and running to handle the bioload.

Happy Reefing!!

 

[eliramos]

no damsel!!!!
save yourself the trouble, have you thought about clownfish?
what i would do is do is skip the cleaning, get the live rock form your aqua scape give it another week then clean and do the water change.
after that you should be good to add fish.
damsels are not a good idea, start with a small cleanup: crew some blue legs and a few astreas. they will start to work on the algea for you then your fish but i would avoid any type of damsels at all cost just not worth it lol

 

[uscstaylor]

OK thanks guys for the input. I do have a ATO unit I made next the tank and I dont have to touch the tank water for like 14 days before making fresh batch of water. I will get the live rock this thurs then and wait another week till I clean it and do water change. As for the ammonia eating bac. I still have fish food and more shrimp that I can add to the tank.....Ill put some in tonight!

 

[uscstaylor]

Oh yeah one more thing I forgot, this is only going to be FOWLR tank. Ill buy a clean up crew when I get the Live rock as well....Does that seem right or should I wait on the clean up crew as well for another week....

 

[Palting]

OK thanks guys for the input. I do have a ATO unit I made next the tank and I dont have to touch the tank water for like 14 days before making fresh batch of water. I will get the live rock this thurs then and wait another week till I clean it and do water change. As for the ammonia eating bac. I still have fish food and more shrimp that I can add to the tank.....Ill put some in tonight!

Don't overdo the ghost feeding . Just a pinch or two of fish food daily, pretend like you're feeding your first clownfish pair.

 

[Palting]

Oh yeah one more thing I forgot, this is only going to be FOWLR tank. Ill buy a clean up crew when I get the Live rock as well....Does that seem right or should I wait on the clean up crew as well for another week....

No inverts, that includes your CUC, until the nitrite is less than 0.1ppm, ideally 0.

 

[uscstaylor]

Will do thanks for the feedback.